Fairy Tale

The children laughed and mumble-fussed, tumbling down the steps of the iBrary, rubbing their bellies, thinking it was just a joke…

“It’s true!” I said, pivoting in my power chair, "It happened!"

P3nelope pulled out her iFoot, chess app in progress, and looked up at me, smiling, before checkmating her opponent in Seoul. Twelve teeth in her five year-old head and P3nelope said: “Mediating emotions is absurd!”

“Hear, hear,” called one of the African kids, crawling toward the Digi-Bank terminal.

Mar1na & Mari0, exchanging eye-rolls, shrugging shoulders…

“Back then we thought we could mandate!” I needed a sip.

The kids, chubby, giggling at the folly of their elders and sharing some kind of pre-teen private joke. I would have slapped them if they weren’t so adorable.

The other toddlers were toddling, downing non-alcoholic toddies and tattling on their siblings, but all of them laughing uproariously at the idea.

The idea that Bullying was outlawed in 2012, Adultery in 2016, and how Bad Ideas had become a Federal Crime at some point in the early 20’s…

“So when did we see the light?” I asked in earnest. The kids were catching their breath.

“In ’43, when one Bully bullied the other Bully into ending Bullying as a crime,” Sa$ha19, laughing hysterically, and showing off her photographic memory.

“And are we free today?” I asked.

“Nope,” said Nevan4.2, “we’re still trying to end the oppression and achieve equality.”

I closed the book and lied, smiling in their open eyes, “We’ll get there someday.”